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Ox-tail Stewed

A slow-cooked ox-tail stew with herbs, spices, and port wine.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and allspice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,874 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Ox-tail Stewed

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare and simmer

  1. Cut the ox-tail into pieces three to four inches long and wash them.

  2. Place the pieces in a stewpan with the stock, adding the herbs, spices, and seasoning.

  3. Bring to a boil, then simmer gently for two and a half to three hours until tender.

Rest and finish

  1. Remove from heat and let it sit until the next day.

  2. Before reheating, carefully remove all the fat that has risen to the top.

  3. Heat thoroughly, thicken the gravy, and add the port wine without boiling.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Clove + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  3. Pepper + allspicetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,395 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Clove + port winetop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together914 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  5. Allspice + port winetop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together400 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyl acetate (fruit).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Ox-tail
Provides the meat and collagen that break down during slow simmering to give a tender texture.
Stock
Forms the liquid base of the stew and carries the flavour of the herbs and spices.
Port wine
Adds sweetness and depth to the gravy when stirred in off the boil.

The step that matters

Add the port wine without boiling. Boiling drives off alcohol and can dull the delicate sweet flavour of port, so it should be stirred in once the stew is hot but not bubbling.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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